


Beneath the Zaun Gray

by TheZaunGray



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Gen, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:34:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheZaunGray/pseuds/TheZaunGray
Summary: In a quiet night, beneath the heavy atmosphere of the Zaun Gray, Jayce confronts Viktor once more.
Kudos: 12





	Beneath the Zaun Gray

**Author's Note:**

> The very first story I have ever finished, and its a short one. Its probably not very good, but I hope you enjoy anyway.

It was a quiet night.   
  


Most people never dared venture this close to the sump, fearing the slow decay from breathing in the Zaun Gray, and the ever-present risk of a sudden chem-spill. However, even to those few mad enough to choose the life of a sump-scrapper, this particular spot was of no interest. The surrounding mines had dried up years ago, and after production moved, no new salvage found its way into this part of the sump. Leaving behind a desolate wasteland, completely devoid of life. 

It is precisely for those reasons that Viktor had built a small workshed here. While it lacked the sheer manpower and resources of the Foundry, the solitude it provided allowed him to work without the risk of endangering those around him, nor the risk of being interrupted. An ideal place to work on more experimental augments, such as the ocular laser he was currently calibrating. 

**_CRASH_ **

A deafening sound rang through the workshed as someone broke through the wall just off to the side of Viktor, leaving rubble and dust in their wake. Viktor, without so much as flinching, put down his tools, and stood up to face the unknown intruder.

“The door was open. You could have simply walked in. There was absolutely no need to risk the structural integrity of ...”

As the dust settled, Viktor was able to recognise the intruder. A young man with short, slicked back hair, wearing an excessive fur coat adorned with a gold and crimson gear sigil. He was wearing a heavy-duty gauntlet on his right arm, the kind Viktor occasionally saw when walking past construction sites during his time at the Academy of Techmaturgy. And in his hands was a massive hextech hammer, bristling with energy. Indeed, this was someone Viktor had hoped to never see again.

“Ah. Hello Jayce”, Viktor said.

“Viktor, it’s been far too long”, Jayce said with a smug smile, as he brushed off some dirt from his coat, and swung the hammer over his shoulder.

“Not long enough”. Viktor crossed his arms. “What do you want?”

“Is that a way to talk to an old friend?”. Jayce shook his head. “Then again, last time we talked, you tried to kill me, so I suppose this is still a step up from that.”

Viktor didn't respond.

“I knew that you wouldn’t simply let that go. So when your  _ friends _ came to visit, I made sure to give them a proper welcome. But I know you. You’re stubborn to a fault. If you failed, you’d just try again with a new approach. Iterative design, as you would call it. And you’ve been quiet for a while, so whatever you’re planning this time, it has to be big.” Jayce swung his hammer around and pointed it at Viktor. “And I’m here to stop it before any more innocent people get hurt”.

“And what exactly am I supposed to be planning?”, Viktor replied.

“Your revenge of course”, Jayce replied.

“Revenge?” Viktor shook his head. “Revenge is a desire derived from humanity's inherent emotional weaknesses. The same weaknesses that caused you to rush blindly onto the site of a recent chem-spill, assume your preconceived notions are true without even trying to discern the true nature of what was happening, and ultimately destroy my lab and kill those whose bodies I was trying to save from the toxins coursing through them. Why would I give in to the same weaknesses I seek to eradicate?”

For a brief moment, doubt crept into Jayce’s thoughts. He did hear of a major industrial accident in Zaun on that day. And the carcasses in the lab were hooked up to machinery he was unfamiliar with, quite possibly a system for purging the bloodstream. But before his thoughts could spiral out of control, Jayce shook his head to clear them. This was clearly all a trick, an attempt on Viktor's part to make him doubt himself. But if he doubted himself, how could he be the “Defender of tomorrow”?

“Then what do you call sending chem-punk thugs to try and kill me? I don't think you’re quite as above emotion as you believe you are”, Jayce replied.

“They were sent there to retrieve any leftover shards. Anything outside of those parameters was their decision, not mine”

“And what about you trying to kill me in that lab? If you were truly trying to save people, why didn’t you just  _ tell me _ ?” In that moment, a flood of emotions Jayce had held back for a very long time came bursting forth. Even after everything Viktor had done, he still was the only person who truly understood Jayce. The closest thing he had ever had to a friend. 

“Would you have listened?”

“Huh?” Jayce snapped back to reality.

“If I had told you what I was doing, would you have listened?” Viktor tilted his head to the side. “After all, I recall you making quite the impassioned plea to stop what you  _ thought _ I was doing, without even looking closely. At no point did you stop to even consider the possibility that you didn’t know exactly what was going on. And yet you think that if I merely told you what I was doing, you would suddenly have listened?”

Jayce fell silent, as he felt the confidence he came in with leaving him. 

“In that moment it was a choice between saving dozens of innocent workers caught in a horrible accident, and placating the ego of an arrogant fool. I chose the only acceptable variant. Of course, in the end they all died anyway, thanks to you”, Viktor added.

“I don’t believe you!”, Jayce shouted.

“Exactly”, replied Viktor coldly. 

Suddenly Jayce picked up his hammer, and wound up for a massive swing.

“I could just end your madness right here”.

“I suppose you could”, Viktor said, completely unfazed. “And yet, you won’t. If you truly believed that I had to be killed, you wouldn’t have given me a chance to talk. You would’ve just killed me before I noticed your presence. The fact that you’re only now threatening me implies that this is just a desperate gambit to distract yourself from a truth you don’t want to accept”. 

**_FWOOSH_ **

Jayce swung the hammer, before bringing it to a sudden stop, mere inches away from Viktor’s unflinching face. Loathe though Jayce was to admit it, he knew Viktor was right. He won’t kill him. He never wanted to. What he really wanted was to bring Viktor back from the brink of madness. To get back the one he once called his friend. And if that wasn’t possible, to at least replace the lost friendship with a newfound rivalry. 

Instead, what he found was that Viktor had all but forgotten about him. Worse yet, his own stubbornness and refusal to consider that he might be wrong may have condemned dozens of innocents to die. He tried to stand tall, to be the “Defender of Tomorrow” that people believed him to be, but he could feel himself trembling.

Viktor looked on with pity. “Do you understand now why I consider emotions to be dangerous and destructive? This is what the Glorious Evolution is truly about. To help humanity overcome its weaknesses. To avoid unnecessary suffering, from disease, from accidents and even from one’s own psyche. If you wish to join me and rid yourself of your failing flesh, I will gladly help you. But until then, I think it’s best you leave.”

Even though Jayce has heard so many of these monologues from Viktor that at some point he simply started zoning out whenever Viktor got started, for the very first time, something resonated with him. Not enough to make him join Viktor, not even enough to truly change his worldview, but enough to make him introspect, and reconsider where he stands. Slightly dejected, Jayce walks through the hole in the wall, and away into the night.

“What a shame to see such a brilliant mind wasted on that fool”, Viktor thought, as he watched Jayce leave. “And yet …”

He waved to a small orb that laid in one of the corners of the workshop. It whirred up and flew over to the gaping hole in the wall, before slowly putting it back together and welding it shut once more. It was a patchwork solution at best, but he had neither the time nor material for something more permanent. 

As Viktor sat down to resume his work on the ocular implant, he pondered on Jayce’s visit. There may still be hope for that arrogant fool. But he could not push the issue. Perfection takes time. And if you've shed your weak flesh, and overcome aging?

_ You have all the time in the _ _world_.


End file.
